ψύλλα

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *plusy(e)h₂ (flea) by metathesis. Cognates include Latin pūlex, Sanskrit प्लुषि (plúṣi), Old Armenian լու (lu), Old English flēah, flēa (English flea), Albanian plesht.

Pronunciation

 

Noun

ψῠ́λλᾰ • (psúlla) f (genitive ψῠ́λλης); first declension

  1. flea
    • 125 CE – 200 CE, Lucian, True Story 1.13:
      τούτων δὲ οἱ μὲν Ψυλλοτοξόται ἐπὶ ψυλλῶν μεγάλων ἱππάζονται, ὅθεν καὶ τὴν προσηγορίαν ἔχουσιν.
      toútōn dè hoi mèn Psullotoxótai epì psullôn megálōn hippázontai, hóthen kaì tḕn prosēgorían ékhousin.
      The flea-archers ride on great fleas, which is also where they get their name from.
  2. type of venomous spider, perhaps a type of widow
  3. type of crop-eating insect

Inflection

Derived terms

References

  • ψύλλα”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • ψύλλα”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • ψύλλα in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
  • Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
    • flea idem, page 327.
  • Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
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